Introduction

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Chapter 27: The New Deal, 1933-1941

Introduction
With a sympathetic bipartisan Congress convinced of the need for government intervention to combat the depression, Roosevelt introduced, and passed, an unprecedented array of legislation upon assuming the presidency. He had no comprehensive plan of action and policies were sometimes contradictory; the intent was to stimulate the economy, alleviate unemployment and industrial stagnation, and inject optimism into the American public. Among the programs introduced in Roosevelt's first New Deal were the National Recovery Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Tennessee Valley Administration, and the Works Progress Administration. But because unemployment still remained high, optimism was not always easy to come by and Roosevelt had his detractors. Literature, such as John Dos Passos’s U.S.A. trilogy, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and the work of William Faulkner portray some of the national mood, as did the popularity of Huey Long’s "Share Our Wealth" plan and Father Charles Coughlin’s attacks on Jews, bankers, and Roosevelt himself. As the depression continued, Roosevelt unveiled the second New Deal in 1935; it introduced deficit spending and was somewhat less business-friendly than earlier efforts. Roosevelt won reelection in 1936, and emboldened by his triumph and frustrated by opposition from the Supreme Court to some of the New Deal programs, attempted to increase the number of judges on the Court. He failed, and although some judges became more friendly and others retired or died and thus allowed Roosevelt to name replacements, the court-packing scheme was a blow to Roosevelt. This episode also essentially marked the beginning of the end of the New Deal, as a "Roosevelt recession" gripped the country in 1937. The New Deal was very significant because it increased the role of government in assuring the public welfare, and expanded the federal bureaucracy and the powers of the president. The New Deal also changed the lot of blacks, women, and Indians. Throughout the 1930s, preoccupied with the depression and inspired by the Nye Commission report, America was resolutely isolationist in global matters. Aggression on the part of Germany, Japan, and Italy, however, slowly drew Americans out, albeit very reluctantly. The U.S. aided Britain and France in their fight against Germany and Italy, initiated an atomic-bomb project, and began a peacetime draft. By 1941, with the Lend-Lease Act establishing a relationship with Britain, the U.S. occupying Iceland and Greenland, and the Greer and Reuben James incidents, the United States was at war in all but name.

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